Live data from Hacker News

What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

maxread.substack.com

241–250 of 326 posts

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#241

Sooo happy that someone did the research and write-up on this. I get a handful of these every week and I've been dying of curiosity. Tried stringing them along but could never figure out the end-game. Now - can someone answer why I get 10 calls a day with no one on the other end? Either I pick-up and it's empty and the call ends a few seconds later, or they leave a 7 second voicemail of nothing.

I think many times the autodialer does a bit of a pre-screening. Like, if I say “hello?” there’s a quick pause and then either the recorded spiel starts (which is more pre-screening) or I get connected to a call center (there’s usually a little “pop” sound).

It’s like any other business… they want to be talking to qualified leads because they only have so many call center scammers. This is why Kit Boga et. al. are truly doing the lord’s work by wasting that precious time.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess some of us are old enough that wrong numbers were a thing and it was just polite to let them know. Especially when it sounds legit

Wrong numbers generally used to be caused by misdialing. Nobody dials numbers any more.

People do enter numbers into phones by hand, though.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#243
It's an attempt at the 'pig-butchering' scam, they act friendly to get you hooked and then claim to teach you how to trade bitcoin. From what I remember reading it was a popular fraud in mainland China but they are branching out internationally because locals are getting wise to it and it is not widely known worldwide.

In my experience and in the other descriptions I've read, it is always a woman business owner from Asia, acts somewhat friendly and flirty, will talk about life with you in a very superficial way for a while in order to build a relationship. After a while they hit you with... a crypto scam or something? Like teaching you how to trade bitcoin but using some shady weird exchange that makes off with your money when you fund your account.

https://myclevertrust.com/post/34/2021-07-06-sha-zhu-pan-the...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/na8oax/asian_guygirl...

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#245

Related. I listed something for sale on Craigslist recently and got a bunch of messages right away that asked obvious questions that were in the listing. One suggested that his wife pick it up, and can I take Zelle? Went silent when I said cash only. But the most interesting scammer said: "for my safety, can I send you a 6-digit number, and you confirm it, so I know the listing is not fake?" I say yes, unsure what th…

my wife had the same thing happen. when she said no, the sender cussed her out a bunch. after TFA I can see why he may have been desperate and venting.

well, at least they ended the charade quickly by behaving that way rather than continuing the charade in an attempt to convince.

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#246

Related. I listed something for sale on Craigslist recently and got a bunch of messages right away that asked obvious questions that were in the listing. One suggested that his wife pick it up, and can I take Zelle? Went silent when I said cash only. But the most interesting scammer said: "for my safety, can I send you a 6-digit number, and you confirm it, so I know the listing is not fake?" I say yes, unsure what th…

I don't understand why the 2FA texts don't clearly state what the intent of the code is?

Something on the lines of "you or someone tried to create a new Google voice number. Please enter this code xyz on the form to proceed".

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#248

Related. I listed something for sale on Craigslist recently and got a bunch of messages right away that asked obvious questions that were in the listing. One suggested that his wife pick it up, and can I take Zelle? Went silent when I said cash only. But the most interesting scammer said: "for my safety, can I send you a 6-digit number, and you confirm it, so I know the listing is not fake?" I say yes, unsure what th…

I don't understand why the 2FA texts don't clearly state what the intent of the code is? Something on the lines of "you or someone tried to create a new Google voice number. Please enter this code xyz on the form to proceed".

Do you really need a message like that? If you didn’t try to sign in But you get a notification, it’s pretty freaking clear what’s going on. Alternatively if you just signed up a new account you should probably expect a message like that

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#249

Related. I listed something for sale on Craigslist recently and got a bunch of messages right away that asked obvious questions that were in the listing. One suggested that his wife pick it up, and can I take Zelle? Went silent when I said cash only. But the most interesting scammer said: "for my safety, can I send you a 6-digit number, and you confirm it, so I know the listing is not fake?" I say yes, unsure what th…

"How about you send a 13-digit number instead"?

How about you just send a freaking RSA key

Re: What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?

#250

Related. I listed something for sale on Craigslist recently and got a bunch of messages right away that asked obvious questions that were in the listing. One suggested that his wife pick it up, and can I take Zelle? Went silent when I said cash only. But the most interesting scammer said: "for my safety, can I send you a 6-digit number, and you confirm it, so I know the listing is not fake?" I say yes, unsure what th…

So, how many fake 6-digit codes did you give them before they caught on?

500,000 on average
Post reply on HN